Just what we need to get the ball rolling, more opinions from faceless entities. At least in face to face meetings you know if the person was even paying attention before they try to make a point. If you want to shorten and even eliminate many meeetings, just remove the chairs from the conference rooms. To eliminate many e-mailed questions, ask, "Why are you asking that question?" Too many times there are participants who feel compelled to ask or respond, merely because they are included and like the feeling of importance when recognized, no matter how inane the comment.

As for as Go to Meeting, that works cool for a sales presentations until a question came up that needed a little head scratching and some 15 participants sat looking at a screen while the salesman raced around trying to find an answer.

I am sorry, but I much prefer taking my drawings into a conference room, explaining what and why I am trying to do, red line the drawings, discuss and rework. That way when someone feels they have nothing to add, they can leave. People that haven't the foggiest notion will keep their mouths shut for fear of embarrassment, and everone else, if they stay on task, can get the job rolling.

I have found that too often I run into people who can not even read a blue print, but that gets into a wholl "nother rant about useless help and advice.

Yes, Greg, it's a good, practical article. It's interesting to note that many people -- not just CAD professionals -- are frustrated by many of the same issues. When I got to the article's third sentence -- "does it feel like meetings and e-mails are eating up all your design time?" -- I was hooked.

Nice article with some very practicle and effective ideas. Dropbox works well for collaboration with off-site teams. I also recommend reading the "CAD Professional's Guide" listed at the end of this article (it also has some very effective and innovative ideas in it).

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